Public health moot: Minister hints at power devolution to improve governance

PESHAWAR: Health Minister Dr Hisham Inamullah Khan has said powers would be devolved to the lowest level to improve governance in the health sector.

Addressing the closing ceremony of first public health conference organised by Khyber Medical University (KMU)-Institute of Public Health, he said devolving the powers would have far-reaching impacts.

He said for that purpose, regional health authorities were set up to strengthen the health delivery system at the local level Appreciating the role of the KMU for imparting quality education, the minister said he was impressed by the foreign qualified trained faculty members in the field of public health.

Besides other KMU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Arshad Javaid, Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Jawad Ahmad, Registrar Prof Dr Muhammad Saleem Gandapur, Dean Public Health Prof Dr Ziaul Haq, faculty members, students and members of Public Health Association as well as delegates from Nanjing Medical University, China and UK besides representatives of UN agencies and ICRC were also present.

Dr Hisham was happy with the KMU for making the new department of family medicine within the faculty of the public health.

The minister asked the health experts to share with the government all the recommendations made in the First International Public Health conference. He also shared the salient features of the recently approved first public health policy of the province.

The minister said that primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare system would be improved.

Dr Hisham said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the first province that introduced health policy and termed it an achievement.

Prof Dr Arshad Javaid said the moot was a success as public health experts had made valuable presentations and updated the participants on the current relevant issues. Dr Ziaul Haq spoke at the closing ceremony.

Shields and souvenirs were also presented to the chief guest and the foreign delegates.

Pesco takes action against power thieves

On the directions of chief executive Pesco, the task forces took actions against illegal use of electricity and recovery of dues continued in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A press release said the action was being taken with the cooperation of federal and provincial governments throughout the province. The task force of Mardan-1 Division removed 14 direct hooks and recovered Rs163,5000 from defaulters. The task force of Takhtbhai division recovered Rs75,000 from permanent disconnected consumers, while Rs9,50,209 was recovered from running consumers. About 19 direct hooks were removed.